Let me start this post by first explaining that I am in no way, shape or form what some people like to refer to as “handy.” If something breaks, I’m pretty good at examining the damage and, in most cases, exacerbating the problem.

Like the time I took apart my fancy, 10-second skip $200 CarDiscman around 1993. I tried to put it back together and had quite a few mystery parts left over. And a couple months ago, when it was about 30 degrees in St. Louis and our heater stopped working, I removed several screws, banged the unit around a bit and ended up spending the night sleeping two feet from our fireplace before having a repairman come out the next day.

Well, today I put my ineptness aside for a few hours and did the nearly unthinkable: I fixed our washing machine. It was actually quite easy — just had to shut the water off, remove and replace a few parts. Yes, we no longer have to make 20 trips from the sink to the washing machine to fill it with hot water. It’s such a nice luxury

Now I’m ready to take on other challenges, but still not quite ready for the “handyman” label.